Fundy U: BJU edition

[steviusthedevious]

(01-02-2011 12:06 PM)Abdiel Wrote:  Your experience will vary based on your area of study. Much of the FA and more creative majors are "infested" with some relatively cool people and great teachers.

ditto this with the business school. those guys have solid heads on their respective shoulders, as they have actually been out in the evil, evil world; dr. goldsmith is freaking smart (hard enough to find in most fundy circles), and my academic counselor (mr. wilch) was absolutely amazing. i'd almost have no reservation in doing it over again, if only for the solid teachers. the atmosphere is stifling though, and i couldn't survive another bout.

[Jenn]

A Personal Word from the President

[Lizzy F.]

Hm...what year is that BJU page from?


The only thing that makes me regret not going to a Christian school is the lack of Bible stuff in my gen ed credits. It would have been cool to take to have that background information.


I was thinking about getting my master's at a Christian college, but I was told I'd have to make up the four year's of Bible classes. I checked out the list of classes and it seemed a bit intense.

[BASSENCO]

I also had a great experience at BJU. It has been heartbreaking to realize that there is "another side" to the school. But even at that, apart from the well known dragons of Guenter Salter and Katherine Stenholm, the faculty at BJU was incredibly, unbelievably dedicated when I was there (and I assume they still are), no matter what the administration was doing or covering up in BJ-stratum churches.

I learned a heck of a lot about the love of God from faculty members, their generosity, their compassion, and their confidence in God. Yes the entire "preacher boy" culture ranges from the comedic to the revolting, and the chapel platform, which was allegedly so hot, was often a stage for buffoons who were given their five minutes of fame to keep them "in the camp". But still, BJU was a place where genuine believers did have fellowship together in Christ, and many who were older and wiser were incredibly gracious to those who were younger and often difficult to love.

When I see the school remaining silent about such devils as Les Heinz and Chuck Phelps, I'm very sad. If those guys suddenly declared they were gay, or if they put a woman in the pulpit, the school would act to give them the boot, but when they lie and cover up for gross sexual sins against teenagers, BJU remains stone silent and pretends it hasn't happened. You have to wonder, apart from the judgment of God, how long the administration thinks they can get away with such nonsense before ordinary, decent people decide it's safer to get away from such a scandal-ridden culture.

[elfdream]

I attended BJ for four years. Met my husband there but did not graduate. I followed all the rules and did everything they asked but still never felt like I 'fit in. I was in no way 'rebellious.'

I can't go into detail over what all my problems were because for all I know all the people who drove me crazy back then may well have seen the light and 'come out of it all' themselves by now. I know they have changed the way the do some things so those arguments would be moot points as well.

I will say I had great problems with their racial policies. Never agreed with them or understood them. Never thought they were Biblical and when they told my half Korean raised as an American friend that she could only date 'Asian' men while a half Chinese raised as an American guy was free to date anyone he liked that was the beginning of the end for me. She eventually left the school. They also told another Asian American girl that she had to 'break up' with her white boyfriend.

I didn't make a big fuss..just quietly left.

I remember being shocked when Bob Jones told Larry King that they never used Scripture as a base for those policies...I remember well hearing over and over about "God establishing their bounds of habitation'....something I thought odd because if that was followed to the letter then Europeans should never have taken over the Americas like they did...

And in the interest of full disclosure you should know that I am a reservation born enrolled member of the Eastern Cherokees...so that might well have colored my attitude while there.

When it comes to my time at BJ I try not to think about it but sometimes it happens like a bad flashback.

[Lizzy F.]

Quote:I remember being shocked when Bob Jones told Larry King that they never used Scripture as a base for those policies...I remember well hearing over and over about "God establishing their bounds of habitation'....something I thought odd because if that was followed to the letter then Europeans should never have taken over the Americas like they did...

My ex-church pastor and his wife went there from about 1985-1991. They came over to our house once and told us the rule had never been enforced, citing the Larry King interview.

My sibling also believes it wasn't enforced because that's what the admin said.

My sibling also tells me that a black friend gets flatly told by some girls that they won't date him because he's black. This gets blamed on living in the south, not on stuff BJU has done.

[mounty]

(01-03-2011 11:46 AM)Lizzy F. Wrote:  My sibling also tells me that a black friend gets flatly told by some girls that they won't date him because he's black. This gets blamed on living in the south, not on stuff BJU has done.

Corporately-sponsored racism fell out of fashion in the 70s, but that doesn't mean personal racism is any less present and accounted for in the South than it was in the 1800s. I was frankly shocked, even just last year, to hear the viciously racist jokes some of my Christian friends threw around, and they were equally shocked when I objected. They also found it funny that I couldn't bring myself to repeat what they had said, even as I was rebuking them for it. Call me a Damn Yankee but it's disgusting just how ingrained those attitudes are.

[Just Curious]

(01-03-2011 11:46 AM)Lizzy F. Wrote:  My sibling also tells me that a black friend gets flatly told by some girls that they won't date him because he's black. This gets blamed on living in the south, not on stuff BJU has done.

Grr.... Racism is unfortunately still prevalent in some pockets of the South, but I promise not all Southerners are like that. Personally, I think black men are hot.

Quote:I will say I had great problems with their racial policies. Never agreed with them or understood them. Never thought they were Biblical and when they told my half Korean raised as an American friend that she could only date 'Asian' men while a half Chinese raised as an American guy was free to date anyone he liked that was the beginning of the end for me. She eventually left the school. They also told another Asian American girl that she had to 'break up' with her white boyfriend.

Elfdream, about when did you attend BJ? This is my fourth year there, and they've done away with those policies for some time now. There is a white girl dating black man and an Asian girl dating a white guy, and I'd say there's even more interracial couples than that. But I'm in no way dismissing the hurt you experienced; don't get me wrong.

Quote:I learned a heck of a lot about the love of God from faculty members, their generosity, their compassion, and their confidence in God.

Same here, Bassenco. As far as those oily preacher boys go...they're just target practice for my ice dagger stare.

[Kevin]

I didn't have a "horrible" experience although I know some who did. I was able to live in town my final two years, so I was able to get away from some of the immature rules that they have for students in the dorms.

I felt the worst for my friends from the Caribbean who because of their mixed racial characteristics were subjected to several trips to the dean of men's office, where they were told in no uncertain terms to stop dating white girls (one of these trips was after the official ending of the ban on interracial dating). These were guys who truly loved the Lord, but they were judged by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character.

My beliefs have changed a great deal since I was there. I am now more Reformed in my theology (I told my brother this, and his reply was, "Who isnt?"). I am also much more open to fellowshipping with other believers with whom I disagree on some points. I have tremendous friendships with people who are charismatic, fundamentalist, and reformed. Separation as taught by BJU is something that I have mostly disregarded.

Unlike some others, I feel like I have a good education, and I am currently able to find satisfactory work with my degree in education. I needed to move away from Greenville, because I felt like many of the churches there were toxic. However, I am encouraged to hear some good things from one of my students who is at BJU, such as the fact that a chapel message was preached this semester emphasizing the inner instead of the outer man and admitting that BJU was to focused on the outward in the past.

[Jordan M. Poss]

(01-03-2011 12:06 PM)Just Curious Wrote:  

(01-03-2011 11:46 AM)Lizzy F. Wrote:  My sibling also tells me that a black friend gets flatly told by some girls that they won't date him because he's black. This gets blamed on living in the south, not on stuff BJU has done.

Grr.... Racism is unfortunately still prevalent in some pockets of the South, but I promise not all Southerners are like that.

No, not all Southerners are like that, and not all Northerners are shining beacons of tolerance and divinely ordered equality, either. Racism has no geographical boundaries. I sometimes wish BJU had been located in Michigan or something so I could stop hearing the Southern Racist Blame Game.